324 Mr. R. Swinhoe's Notes on Ornithology 



begin to increase in number, though without many trees. Culti- 

 vation increases as you advance to the walls of Tientsin, where 

 a large open grassy plain to the east arrests your attention. I 

 was the only interpreter with Sir Robert Napier, General of the 

 2nd Division, on the march to Tientsin ; and as the divisional 

 duties were so heavy, I had not much time to shoot, or to bestow 

 on natural history. But fortunately, on the march to Peking, 

 I was attached to the topographic department under Colonel 

 Wolsely, and my duties being principally confined to making 

 inquiries of, and getting information from, the natives, I had 

 plenty of opportunities, in our numerous halts, of papng some 

 little attention to my favourite study. The Grand Canal, the 

 Ta-se and Seaou-se Rivers, with the main branch of the Peiho 

 winding N.W., together with their numerous creeks and tribu- 

 taries, all oflfer excellent feeding-ground to numberless water- 

 birds. Tlie country consists of one vast alluvial plain of mixed 

 sand and mud, gradually and almost imperceptibly ascending 

 towards Peking. In the neighbourhood of Ho-se-woo, on the 

 banks of the Peiho, a few sandy undulations break somewhat the 

 flatness of the country. After leavingTientsin the numbers of trees 

 about the villages begin to increase, and as you approach Peking, 

 topes of lofty timber overshadowing the /w?n?</2 of departed great- 

 ness give in many places quite a sylvan aspect to the scene. As 

 we marched up in September the chief crops of sorghum, maize, 

 cotton, three descriptions of small millet, pumpkins, beans, &c. 

 were all ready for the harvest, and in some spots the reapers 

 had already been busy. On our return in November the country 

 presented a very barren face. All that was left of the waving 

 maize and millet was merely the dry and hardened pegs, some 

 foot and a half high, which covered acres of ground, and made 

 digression from the road very unpleasant for the horses' legs. 

 We were delayed some time on the banks of the Yunleang 

 Canal, some seven miles from Peking, waiting for reinforce- 

 ments. This canal is the chief water-communication between 

 Tungchow, on the banks of a branch of the Peiho, and Peking. It 

 runs close to the Peiho, but not into it ; thence westerly under 

 the Pa-le (8 le) or stone bridge to the first weir, where the further 

 portion of the canal is dammed and lies some 10 feet above. There 



